A Change of Command
by Auguruj
Summary: The past tends to come back to bite you when you don't need it. When Jasper's past comes knocking, it brings around something the Cullens haven't seen yet.
1. Chapter 1

"Bella, are you all right?" a beautiful black-haired girl asked of a brunette. Asked girl shook her head and turned to her.

"Yeah, I am," she mumbled. "I just feel like I was being watched again."

The black-haired girl laughed. Her laugh sounded like tinkling of a bell. "Which time is it now that you're looking around because you feel like that? Seventh? I don't even count it anymore. Come on, Bella."

"It's not my fault, Alice. I just have a feeling," Bella grumbled morosely.

"Bella," a boy with bronze hair said. "No one is here. We're telling you all the time. There is no one in the vicinity of this house. If there was, we would smell him."

"And we would smell him before he even saw us," added a big muscular guy.

"I know, Edward, Emmett. Just don't listen to me, okay? But I still think someone could be there. Maybe they just don't have any smell at all. You wouldn't smell him then. It could even be a vampire."

"Edward, Alice and Jasper would notice them through their gifts before we could even smell them, Bella. Don't worry," Carlisle assured her.

"Maybe you're just getting paranoid," remarked Rosalie unpleasantly. Bella just sighed.

"Okay then. So tomorrow again?" she resigned and walked to the door.

Everyone else moved after her, congregating on the porch to wave goodbye as she leaves. It was their routine that summer, she's grown even closer to the Cullens since James nearly killed her and Edward had to suck the venom out.

"The same time," confirmed Edward with his angel-like smile. "We'll be waiting."

Bella nodded and walked down the private road where she parked her car. She only covered half the distance when something hard and invisible jumped at her, and turned her so that she was facing the Cullens again. Then Bella saw that the thing was no longer invisible.

It was a vampire, a vampire who was encircling her with her arms in such a way that one crossed over her chest, blocking both of her arms, while the other arm rested on her neck. She was leaning over her, the dirty blonde hair falling across her face like a veil separating her from the Cullens.

"Tell them not to move!" the vampire hissed in Bella's ear, just loud enough for her human ears to catch it. The Cullens could just gasp in surprise at seeing the vampire appearing out of thin air like that.

Edward looked like he was about to attack the vampire when Bella regained her speech, and executed the given order.

"D-don't move!" she gasped out. Edward still looked like he wanted to leap down the stairs, but Carlisle put a stalling hand on his shoulder.

"The girl belongs with us," he said clearly, so that the vampire had no trouble hearing him at all. She giggled into Bella's ear silently.

"I watched you long enough to know that myself, thanks," she stated quietly, only for her ears again.

"You don't have to be afraid," she added. "I'm not about to hurt you. This approach simply works better. Maybe it will wake him up a bit. Now, call Jasper down here. Just him, and no one else."

Bella carefully tried turning her head. The vampire didn't stop her, so Bella finished the movement and looked into her face. She was met with a bright, rich orange stare with a bit of red mixed in.

"Uh..."

"A beginner vegetarian, Isabella. And do call Jasper for me now. I have some unfinished business to address with him," the vampire purred silently.

"Don't hurt him. Alice will be unhappy," Bella whispered pleadingly.

"Perhaps. She'd go looking for her true mate at least. _Call Jasper. _Now."

Bella sighed, but she didn't have a choice. That vampire had her literally in her grasp, and the slight inflection in her last sentence told her she wasn't going to ask again.

"Jas-Jasper? Come here, please. Just you," she called weakly.

Jasper blinked, and Alice hung onto him immediately. He slowly extricated himself from the grasp of his wife, and walked down the stairs with wary caution.

"Tell him his talent's not working on me, please," the vampire asked her with satisfaction. "It's getting a little annoying. The same goes to Alice and your Edward."

"Your talent's not working on her. Neither is Edward's or Alice's," Bella repeated faintly. Jasper's face hardened and he looked very alert now.

"So no, you're not paranoid. Just extremely perceptive. I'll release you in a moment. Go wherever you want, just don't go close to Jasper. And don't stay put," the vampire added in amusement.

Jasper stopped three meters away.

"Who are you?" he asked warily, and slightly unfriendly.

The vampire relaxed her grip on Bella and pushed her an arm's length away. "Go."

Bella ran to the porch stairs, and right into Edwards arms.

"Major Jasper Whitlock," was all the vampire said in answer to Jasper's question. Jasper straightened and his jaw clenched.

The unfamiliar vampire turned straight to him, and threw the hair out of her face with one short head-shake. Jasper's eyes widened, and he flinched.

"Anabelle!" he blurted.

The vampire leaned her head to the side.

"So you do remember? I suppose you found it hard, forgetting the vampire you tried to kill?" the vampire stated sharply.

Jasper was silent, he just stared at her, his whole body tense. His face screwed up in an almost painful grimace.

"I've known you under many names. Major Jasper Whitlock, The God of War, The Bloodthirsty Machine. I've been watching you, and I have to regretfully conclude you are none of them anymore. Was the independent, strong, confident, and dangerous vampire turned into a tamed vegetarian panther-cub? I ask if you can even fight anymore," her voice was mocking him.

Jasper gritted his teeth again, but didn't react otherwise. She sighed and slipped a hand into a pocket of her hoodie, pulling out an old, worn-out leather glove. She threw it onto the dusty road in front of him.

"Well? Or did you already forget the manners your human mother taught you? A _lady_ is not to be turned down."

Jasper looked at the glove, laying in the dust and dirt, and raised his head with regret.

"I don't want to kill you, Ana. I never wanted to."

She jerked her head. "You didn't, but you would have done it. Bloodthirsty Machine, Mister Lethal, The God of War would have done it. We both know it. The tamed vegetarian pup won't do it, it doesn't even want to fight. It wants to forget, but the vampire memory's eternal. The pup sticks its head into the sand. But someone will chop if off one day."

He frowned. "Stop it, Ana."

"Why? Because the pup doesn't want to face memories? You should have killed off all the actors in the memories like you did everyone else. You were doing an excellent job out of it."

"What do you want, Anabelle?"

"You wanted to kill me. _Me_. I ran away. I want it to end. It began with fight, it will end with fight."

Jasper stared at her incredulously. "Ana..."

"No," she barked. "I didn't like the Bloodthirsty Machine, I don't like the tamed cowering cub."

"Ana..."

"Pick the glove up, Major Whitlock," vampire hissed. "Right. Now."

Jasper stared at her for a long time, then he sighed.

"I was glad when you ran off. I didn't want to fight you, or hurt you."

"You said that already," Anabelle snapped coldly. "But I didn't mean much compared to Maria's orders, did I? Only so much to make you let me run. Yet you allowed two others to do the same before, and they were just your friends. What you want doesn't matter much to me at this point. You didn't give me what I wanted. Give me what I want now, and we'll be even."

"But... I cannot kill you, Ana."

"You could then, you can now. _Pick up the goddamn glove_."

Jasper stood there undecided for a long time. Then his shoulders fell, and he bent down for the glove.

"No! Jasper!" Alice cried desperately, while being held back by Emmett. "Emmett, let me go!"

"It's in your interest to not let her go," the vampire remarked, but hardly bothered to look their way. "I am blocking her talent, but _I _do not need one to know what will happen to her if she interferes in this. It's time for a little show, Jasper."

Anabelle turned and started walking away from the house, to the open space between the house and the woods. Jasper looked at his family and Bella, and smiled apologetically.

"Anything happens, do not interfere. She's right, even though I would prefer to avoid fighting. But she's right," his face clearly showed the pain and sadness he felt.

"Jasper, who is it? You never talked of her," said Edward, still clutching onto Bella.

"Anabelle was one of the newborns I was supposed to get rid off when their powers started waning. I let her run, but she's right. If she stayed, in the end I would have done what Maria wanted from me," his face screwed up. "And that would be the end."

With that he turned and followed the vampire, who stood on her chosen spot now and waited for him, bored, and glaring darkly his way.

"You have the rules set up?" he asked her resignedly when he stopped thirty meters away.

"Close fight in the area bordered with the house on one side and the surrounding forest on the other. If any of your ignorant lawyerlings interfere, I'm killing them. Don't bother with your gift, I've got mine trained well enough to be sure it will last the fight."

"I wouldn't use talent in this kind of fight anyway. And no one will interfere, I owe you that."

"You owe me a lot more than what you admit," said the vampire in a very quiet, and very intense voice at the same time. "Be so kind and throw the glove up. We start with the first touch of ground."

Jasper looked like he wanted to say something very much, but then his shoulders fell again and he threw the glove into the air. The moment they heard the first part of leather hit the uppermost grass blades, they moved. Since then, Bella's human eyes couldn't see then, except for a blurred outline here and there.

"Edward?" Bella whispered quietly. She couldn't see them, but she still heard the loud sounds, as if blocks of stone were hitting each other repetitively.

"Do you want to go inside?" Edward asked her quietly, his face drawn in anxiety. Bella shook her head.

"No, I just... she didn't want to hurt me. She's been watching us, that's why I always felt like I was being watched. It was her. She's been here the whole time and did nothing. She could have killed me, but she didn't do it. Even now she didn't hurt me."

"That one doesn't want to hurt you," Rosalie snapped silently.

Meanwhile, the two vampires were circling and attacking each other. Gouges and places with torned out grass and other vegetation were appearing all around in high speed. Anabelle knew exactly when the cowardly cub completely transformed into Major Whitlock. His moves became more flowing and planned just a couple seconds into the fight. She smirked while bending and avoiding his attack. At the same time, she shot her hand out and hit him hard into his ribs. A loud creaking sound was heard.

"Greetings, Major Whitlock," she drawled, blocking his next move. A long time flew by since she was a part of Maria's army, but she still remembered the fighting style of Major Whitlock - the vampire who trained them in fighting when he was in better mood. In bad mood, he was turning into a God of War, but he mostly tended to be him during wars with other armies, not against his own.

Major Whitlock couldn't touch her, she was too good for that. She got a couple more hits in before he got his wits together, and retreated in favour of the God of War. That one was a harder opponent. He blocked as effectively as she did, and attacked the same way.

Anabelle smiled when he blocked an attack, which the Major would miss.

"Long time no see, God of War."

For a few minutes they tried to breach each other's walls, but Anabelle didn't expect she would actually manage on her part. Her fighting skills were about the same level as the abilities of the God of War, he was her equal. It has been that way for a while already when she escaped Maria.

Still, she didn't expect to win that fight. She knew every fighting mode, or rather every personality of the vampire whose biological name was Jasper Whitlock. Since coming to Forks, she met the tamest of them all - the Cowardly Cub. In her youth and newborn months, she came to know all others. Most of the time apart from war it was Major Whitlock - a human Major who got turned into a vampire and didn't lose much of his soldier self in the transformation. In the battles he was the God of War - a vampire whose fighting skills got him famous nearly everywhere in the South. In the more difficult battles, he tended to become Mister Lethal or the Bloodthirsty Machine - first of which still possessed some minuscule part of Major Whitlock's self, and if one was careful he could reason with him without losing a head in the process. The second was exactly as his name suggested - a machine. There was not a single human cell in him, not a piece of conscious thought. The Bloodthirsty Machine didn't talk, it destroyed. It was a malicious, tearing beast who used every fighting skill of Major Whitlock for only one purpose and nothing could stop him. Nothing but death of the victim or Maria's repeated order.

She hated and feared the Bloodthirsty Machine. But she didn't have to meet him today. When Jasper switches into the regime of Mister Lethal, it will be just a matter of time until he defeats her and finishes it. So no, she didn't expect to win. But she didn't come there to win.

For almost ninety years she wandered alone. She had to end it. Either he'll kill her or he'll accept her, you could never be sure with Mister Lethal. There was only one thing she knew for sure - he will end it. And that was all she wanted anymore.

Mister Lethal came to play before their fighting area lost the last trace of grass. The balanced fight was suddenly a thing of the past and Anabelle was quickly forced into defence. Despite the difficulties with which she tried to keep up with her opponent, a weak but pleased smile adorned her face.

"Glad to meet you again, Mister Lethal," she whispered, as soon as she got a moment's respite from the danger.

Just moments later it was over. As she thought, she couldn't keep up with Mister Lethal. Suddenly, he pierced through her defences, got to her back, and his arms snaked around her chest much the same way as she did with Bella earlier. She felt his teeth on her throat, but he didn't bite. A moment before he breathed in, and stilled.

She stilled as well, in answer to immediate death threat, and didn't dare to even blink.

For nearly a minute he simply stood there, holding her in check, and breathing in her scent.

"Open your emotions to me," at long last the said quietly, and Anabelle shivered against her will. If she had any doubts before about him being Mister Lethal, which she didn't, now she would be certain. Others from his clan must have realized by now that they were not dealing the Cowardly Cub anymore. His voice was quiet, iced over, full of authority and confidence. That voice alone was enough for you to know that if you wanted to live, you couldn't try a thing.

Anabelle lifted her shield silently to let his talent through. She still blocked the other two - boyfriend of that human girl, and the vampire who dared to pretend Jasper belonged to her.

Mister Lethal didn't show he was reading her already, but he didn't have to, anyway. She knew exactly what he will see in her. She respected and admired Mister Lethal, those were the two main emotions that never disappeared when she had the honour. The backing, but still present, were love and caution. They were weaker than the first two - she loved the real mind, the real self of Major Whitlock, but Mister Lethal only contained a little part of him. She knew Mister Lethal felt that love, and he knew it was an emotion that was always present, and mostly leading, when she was face to face with the God of War or Major Whitlock.

"Long time no see, Anabelle," Mister Lethal remarked, but didn't loosen the grip he had on her. Anabelle relaxed completely and all the fighting left her. He remembered her. He recognized the emotions he felt from her, he remembered what he felt from her when the control belonged to Major or God. Mister Lethal was more or less controlled by instincts, the animalistic vampire part of his being. He didn't need to read her thoughts, he knew why she came there. She didn't have to do anything more. Everything depended on him now.

"I owe you an apology for both of my tamer selves," Mister Lethal continued quietly, indifferently. "None of them wanted to accept it even though they knew as soon as I found out. It may be of an interest to you that ever since letting you go, they never allowed me to take control. They knew what I would do, and they couldn't allow it when they had Maria, now could they?"

He paused for a while. "Tell me, darling, why did it take you so long to finally get your arse here?"

A fearful tremble shot through Anabelle. His grip didn't change, but she knew what that tone meant. But why was he angry with _her_?

"I don't understand, sir," she whispered, frightened. While he knew what was going on and who she was to him, Mister Lethal wouldn't keep from hurting her. She didn't think he would kill her, but still...

"For more than eighty years you kept clear and let your mate do whatever he wanted. I can't take the control whenever I want, something you know very well, and because they didn't let me through I couldn't seek you out to end this ridiculous farce. But what excuse do _you _have?"

She knew it wasn't the best of her ideas while he still had full access to her emotions, but she couldn't dull the sudden flare of anger at his words.

"They would have both killed me for Maria if I came back, and just afterwards realize what it was that they did. I couldn't know if Maria ordered them to finish what they started, just as I couldn't know if you were in control or if you would behave differently. When I found out you left Maria, I didn't know if it was safe to approach, and I didn't know if I could take another rejection. I decided to try only when I could take it no longer, and I didn't care was happened anymore. It took me a few years to track you down. I _do not appreciate_ you blaming me for something your tamer personalities caused."

Gradually, her voice grew colder and harder, and she more or less just hissed the last sentence at him.

He chuckled into her ear. "So you still have your spark, don't you, Anabelle? I wasn't certain, though that trick with Bella had potential. So it seems you can be salvaged yet, even though they did a real number on you. You're but a shadow of my mate, but that will change quickly now."

She didn't even manage to start hoping before he continued.

"I always recognised you, Anabelle, and now that you are finally here, I will not waste another minute. I can't accept you while you are still so damaged, but worry not. I will stay here until you pick yourself up, and then you will be mine. Once the bond is complete, not even those two idiots will wish to change it."

"Three," objected Anabelle, but her face glowed with happiness. When she went there, she had no idea Mister Lethal was on her side. She had no clue he recognized her as his mate. If she knew that, she would seek him once she heard he left Maria. Or she would have found a way to circumvent Maria and get him in control before that.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore. My basic personality is the Major. The Cowardly Cub, as you put it, will never appear again - he damaged my reputation more than enough already. And you don't have to fear the Machine. When the bond is complete, he will not hurt you and you will be able to deactivate him."

With that, he gave her jugular a short lick and straightened. She felt like she was about to burst with happiness and love. She knew that from that moment onwards, love would be one of the main emotions she felt for Mister Lethal as well, just for what he did for her now. For recognizing and accepting her all along, while his tamer personalities failed to.

Her dead heart twitched when she noticed an extremely rare smile appear on his face.

"Glad to be appreciated, mate," he purred to her. Then he turned to the house to take care of the loose threads left there.


	2. Chapter 2

Bella tore her fascinated eyes from the batches of grass that were seemingly removing themselves from the ground when Edward gripped her a little stronger. His face was very focused and uncomfortable, and he was watching what must have been a rather intense fight.

"Edward, what's happening?" she asked silently, nearly wordlessly, trying to not let the sound carry over to the sensitive ears of the battling vampires. Edward didn't look at her, but he answered.

"I don't like this. Jasper... thinks differently then he did before," he said and stood straight when the strange vampire in front of them remarked: "Long time no see, God of War."

"This doesn't look good, Carlisle," Edward said hurriedly. "I think that Jasper has several different personalities. Just a while after they started fighting, his mindset went through a little change, it was similar to how he was thinking when he came to join us. She called him Major Whitlock then. Now his mindset changed again - you see it, he fights better, but at the same time his thoughts are rather aggressive and strategic, much more effective than Major Whitlock before. I think he goes though all of his personalities during his fight with her, from the mildest to the most volatile. I guess it will stop when he defeats her."

"Which will happen with the next change, they are about equal now. Let him change and he will finish it with her," Rosalie said tersely.

Edward quickly shook his head. "You don't understand. He is aggressive enough now. He is like he was when he fought in the Southern wars, the God of War. Vampires in that area are still telling stories and legends. They admire him, but they are afraid of him down there even today. He is a vampire soldier, aggressive, skilled, invincible. He won't let anything control him, and I can tell that even this personality will hardly let anyone order him around. Right now, there is maybe half of his human part inside him, and the rest is the vampire, the beast. When he changes next, his human part if it still is there, will be very diminished and the majority of his personality will be made up of the vampire. He will be an uncontrollable and perfect soldier, invincible, and conscious of his superiority. He won't be Jasper, a member of our family. He will be someone different, who doesn't depend on anyone. He won't simply talk with us, and he won't let anyone tell him what to do. He will be extremely unstable... shit!"

Every vampire head turned to the fighting pair just a millisecond after Edward, and they gasped, when they saw the way the honey-blond vampire fought now. That wasn't Jasper Whitlock, Jasper Hale. Anabelle, who was in advantage at the beginning, and equally good just a moment ago, was forced into a fast retreat now, and they could see she was having problems.

"Glad to meet you again, Mister Lethal," they heard her whisper with a slight, but genuine smile.

"Edward...?" Carlisle asked uneasily. Everyone else watched the vampire they thought they knew speechlessly. Edward winced.

"Another personality. I nearly cannot recognize Jasper. There is something from him in this one, but it's mostly a vampire. He will beat her. If the approaches us afterwards, don't expect a warm welcome. It won't be discussion between the head of clan and a member, Carlisle, he doesn't depend on anyone. It will be worse than head of clan to another head. I don't even know if dealing with him will be possible, at all. In any case, don't criticize him, don't offend him, and really, it would be better if we only spoke respectfully and agreeably. This is not Jasper, and nothing that he experienced with us matters. If he doesn't like you, he'll kill you," Edwards voice was extremely nervous, almost frightened.

"Is it truly that bad?" Carlisle frowned worriedly.

"Worse. I am trying to explain this quickly to you, while there is still time. If I was to explain things as they are completely, it would take longer. There's no time to make you understand things exactly, just _please_, listen to me and do only what I told you!"

"He's got her," Emmett said with satisfaction, when the vampires suddenly stopped still. Bella took a sharp breath when she saw Jasper holding the vampire in a fashion similar to the one she was being held before, his teeth poised on her throat. Neither of them moved.

"Why doesn't he finish her?" Alice asked in near outrage at the same time as Bella spoke in near silence:

"What's going on?"

"He beat her. He wants her to lower her shielding against his talent... she did," Edward breathed. "That one can control her gift very well, she's let Jasper's gift through, but Alice and I are still blind to her."

"Literally. I can't even see our future now, not just hers. Why? He's defeated her, why doesn't he kill her or chase away from here, and return to me? What's he doing?!" Alice was venting her anger quietly, staring at the female vampire with hatred.

"She loves him," Edward exhaled in surprise. "Jasper's reading her feelings. She feels respect and admiration for him, but there's caution, too, and most definitely love."

"So what? So she likes my mate. Of course, Jasper's a strong vampire, but he's _mine_! Why does he waste time with her?" Alice hissed. Bella glanced at her uncomfortably, looking as if she almost couldn't recognize the small, pixie vampire.

"Alice, calm down," Carlisle said quietly, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Edward suddenly gasped.

"That's a mate love! She's Jasper's mate!" he exclaimed, and nearly didn't manage to lower his voice in time. Bella gaped at that, but she still watched the two vampires who talked now, at least it seemed so. "And he recognizes it. Can you hear? He's reproachfully chastising her for keeping back for more than eighty years, letting her mate do what he..."

"We're not deaf, Edward," hissed Rosalie.

Bella though it necessary to show Edward that at least someone there was grateful to him for his words, and the translation of the too quiet conversation. "Thanks, Edward. My ears are not good enough to hear them."

Edward gave her a short smile, and pulled her a little closer to him, but his smile was very tense.

"Alice, it's more than obvious that Jasper is not your mate. Why did you say he was?" asked Carlisle of the little vampire in a rather strict tone of voice. Edward was grateful at least someone understood the severity of the situation. Anabelle will be furious about her mate being claimed by someone else. And only God knew how this Jasper would react to that.

"He _is_ my mate!" Alice hissed at Carlisle. Esme automatically growled at the tone Alice used to talk to her mate, but she looked very ashamed afterwards, and she glanced at Alice apologetically. She ignored her.

"He's accepted her," Edward quietly remarked, and everyone, Bella included, saw the female vampire glow with happiness, and Jasper lick her neck. Alice gasped for breath in helpless fury.

"How dares she!"

"Alice, in your own interest I advice you to control yourself or Jasper will tear you head off," Edward said to her tensely.

"Jasper wouldn't hurt me, I'm his mate," snapped Alice.

"I think it's clear to everyone here that you aren't, Alice, despite whatever it is you want to believe," Emmett joined in on the conversation for the first time since the beginning of the fight. He was too preoccupied, and elated about the prospect of seeing the God of War in action than to join the ongoing discussion.

"They're coming," Edward quickly said when Jasper moved towards the house, with Anabelle right behind him. "Don't forget what I've told you. This is not our Jasper. If we want to survive this encounter we have to be better behaved than we would be for someone of the Volturi."

Carlisle wordlessly pushed Esme slightly behind his own body, same as Emmett with Rosalie, and Edward with Bella.

"Edward?" Bella whispered in surprise.

"That's OK, Bella. A typical vampires stance when meeting foreign clans. The female mates automatically stand half-way behind their mates, and slightly to the side, just so they are readily visible. This way the foreign vampires know who is the mate of whom. It is thought rude if not an outright offence if a vampire speaks to a female mate without permission from her mate or without the female mate speaking first," Carlisle explained quietly, but his eyes were trained on Jasper, who was marching straight to them. Even his walk was different than before - confident, and sure step of the captain of the army. So sharp, as if there was no doubt about the result of the upcoming dealings.

Bella nodded hurriedly, and cuddled slightly more to Edward.

Jasper stopped about ten metres from them with an atypically stony face and superior, hard expression, Anabelle standing right behind him in an identical angle to Esme, Rosalie, and Bella. Alice nearly trembled in her fury at seeing that.

"I assume there is no need for introductions," Jasper said coldly.

"That depends," Carlisle answered calmly. "You know us, but we are not sure who we are talking to right now. Up until now we knew another Jasper Whitlock."

"You knew the Cowardly Cub, and partially Major Whitlock when he came here. The Cowardly Cub, as my mate, Anabelle, christened him, will never come back. He is an offence to my personality. Vampires call me Mister Lethal." Jasper's voice sounded completely detached, full of authority, and cold.

Carlisle nodded in agreement. "In that case we will call you so as well, sir. With your permission."

Jasper gave a distanced nod, and glanced at Bella. Edward tensed, and lowered into a defensive stance almost automatically. Jasper's cold golden-brown eyes immediately flew to him, and flashed icily.

Edward forced himself into a more upright position, but he still wasn't standing straight, and he still was tense.

"This is Bella, Mister Lethal. Isabella Swan, my mate."

"I am fully aware of who she is, Edward Mason Cullen," a warning shadow crept into his icy voice and Edward's eyes widened. He straightened up immediately, lowering his head in a slightly submissive angle.

"My apologies, sir. I know you are aware of it. But because Bella is still human, I feel unsure about every vampire who I am not completely sure about in her vicinity. Surely you know that even with letting you... I am sorry, I meant the other Jasper, I had some problems with letting him close to her. Until Bella is a vampire, I am sorry to say such reactions are more-or-less automatic for me, even if not exactly appropriate."

Jasper didn't react, but Anabelle smirked from her place behind him. "Good move."

Jasper turned his head slightly to the side, in her direction, but the expression on his face never wavered. Anabelle looked at him, and bowed to him slightly. "Surely you would admit, my lord, that they are navigating this rather well. Mainly if we consider that they are meeting you for the first time, and they certainly still see Jasper Hale when they look at you."

"Of course, Anabelle. However, they have a substantial help in the form of Edward Cullen, and his gift," Jasper turned back to them.

Esme moved slightly, she almost inconspicuously moved out from behind Carlisle.

"What will happen now, sir? Jasper was a part of our family, I would be glad to have him stay with us, regardless of what personality is at the forefront at the moment."

"Of course. You always cared about your children Esme, regardless of their age," Jasper admitted neutrally, with a short acknowledging glance at Carlisle. "I suppose we will stay for some time. Anabelle needs to calm down, and find her strength again before I will be able to bind with her, and finalize our relationship permanently. I assume she's been running around long enough to know exactly what to expect around here. There is no sense in moving to a new, unfamiliar place. After the finalizing of our bond, we will see."

"I _will not_ move out of my room for _her_!" Alice burst out suddenly, with a loathing glare trained on Anabelle, and the started for them. Carlisle tried to intercept her, but didn't manage. "I should be the one standing on her spot, I am your mate!"

She stopped right before him, apparently not worried about her safety at all. Anabelle growled at her a quiet warning.

"Alice, return to your place this instant," Carlisle ordered the black-haired vampire strictly, but didn't move from his spot. Bella anxiously watched the stone expression on Jasper's face harden even more and darken. It really wasn't Jasper, just like Edward said. Not only did he behave completely differently, it was as if he didn't recognize them. Actually, he did recognize them, but it seemed he forgot their importance to him. Now he only saw what he knew of them, not what he felt for them. As if it didn't matter.

"You know very well you aren't, _Alice_," he hissed at her.

"I am! I never saw anyone else for you, just me!"

"Of course you didn't see anyone, you stupid cow. You talent doesn't work on me," Anabelle brushed her off with a quiet, dangerous voice. Alice looked at her with revulsion, and then looked lovingly at Jasper.

"You know I love you, Jasper. You know it. We experienced beautiful years together. You will not throw it away just like that, say you won't?" Alice outstretched a hand to Jasper in a pleading, entreating way. Anabelle wordlessly jumper over to Alice before she could touch him, and threw her to the ground with a single move. She bent her arms behind her back, grabbed her wrists, and knelt on her legs firmly, immobilising her. Others only just realised what happened when Anabelle lowered her head sharply, and tore her teeth deep into her neck. Alice screamed.

Anabelle raised her head immediately after, and spit out the bit she ripped from her throat.

"His name is Mister Lethal, you bitch. You will mind your manners in front of my mate, and you will talk to him with proper respect. And if you try to touch him _once_ more, I will tear you to such little pieces that nobody will ever put you back together again. Understood?" she hissed at her maliciously.

Jasper looked at her in satisfaction.

"It won't even take you so long, will it, Anabelle?"

The vampire looked back at him from her spot on Alice.

"Come here, darling."

Anabelle frowned at him with a pout, but she stood, and stepped before him with a single disappointed glance at Alice. It seemed she forgot Alice the moment Jasper raised his hand, and stroked her cheek. With a bliss on her face she dug into his hand more, and purred. He smirked.

"Oh yes, it will not take you long," he looked over the side of her head at Alice, who was curling on the ground with a pained expression, holding the torn piece to her neck to let it merge back. He smirked again, much more unpleasantly this time.

"Carlisle, call your adopted daughter back before I show her what vampires do to those who try to endanger their mates," he spoke without inflection. Carlisle immediately did just that. When Alice grumpily came back to him, he unceremoniously pushed her behind him and Esme so that she couldn't pass by them without being intercepted.

"This conversation is not over," she murmured under her nose quietly, but everyone except for Bella heard her perfectly.

* * *

AN: Okay, I think my little collection of ideas for this story will run out with next chapter, so that will be it I guess. But it will take me a while to finally write it, as usual. If you have any ideas about what you would like to happen, feel free to let me know. I may incorporate them if they suit the general trend.

By the way, second chapters of the Wolf Girl and Master are being written, even though the Wolf Girl seems to be fighting teeth and nails the direction I want it to take.


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